Boat Buying - Listed price vs Final Price

[robert sailor]

When we were buying the last boat I found a cracked password for soldboats on the internet and copied everything on every boat I was interested in. Sure came in handy.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

When we were buying the last boat I found a cracked password for soldboats on the internet and copied everything on every boat I was interested in. Sure came in handy.

Yes, that would be very useful.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

When we were buying the last boat I found a cracked password for soldboats on the internet and copied everything on every boat I was interested in. Sure came in handy.

is theft over $500.00 grand larceny or a misdemeanor ?

[robert sailor]

Well truth is I have a friend that is a broker and I am very sure I cold have gotten the same info from him so it did not concern me but I get your point.

[TomandAnitas34]

You know, this thread comes up from time to time. Someone proposes a formula, an angle, the right timing, etc. " It's the demographics ", they say. "Sailors are getting older and smarter. It's the economy, all the easy money is gone", and so-forth. Well, yes. To all those things. As a seller, you have to suffer fools and tire kickers. It's just part of the experience. You also have to accept that all those little things you've put off fixing, may influence where the sale price is headed. As a buyer, you have to know what you are looking at and know what it's worth as well. You can tell the broker, this XYZ boat is $10,000 more than the same one down the street. A good broker should tell you to go down the street and buy it! It's not apples to apples... ever. Really, one of the most difficult problems to solve is how to keep paying on the boat you buy... after you buy it. In the long run, the purchase price maybe one of the smaller expenses of long term boat ownership.

[robert sailor]

Reminds me of Myron Cohan the great Jewish comedian who talks about going to the butcher shop and asks the butcher how much lamp chops are and the butcher replies 1.99 a pound. Hey just a minute I can get them over at Joeys place for 1.40 a pound. Then go over to Joeys and buy them he says. I can't because he is out of them right now. Oh hell if I was out of them I'd sell them for 1.00 a pound!

[colemj]

There are a couple of threads here on CF where listing and selling prices for catamarans were posted for several quarters. It appeared that these data came from soldboats.com or similar.

I personally know several of the people that bought/sold boats in those listings and the data were correct. This leads me to believe that there isn't much fudging of numbers by brokers.

Most likely, these data represent the relative data overall - so you might want to look at those threads for a rough answer.

I also used to have a cracked password for soldboats.com. Surprisingly, it stayed good for over a year, which was convenient because we were both selling and buying boats at that time and it helped me set a realistic selling point and a realistic buying expectation. Using these data allowed us to sell and buy our boats almost immediately with little negotiation or time-wasting necessary.

The one thing that was obvious from those data was that both the asking and selling prices had a few far outliers with the rest bunched quite tightly - it wasn't a smooth Gaussian distribution for either.

I think most people remember those outliers, and they become the legend of boat buying strategies that get kicked around on these forums.

Mark

[breezydays]

Thanks to everyone.
Some really good points raised. Incidentally I am buying in Euro but my base currency is Pounds sterling so there is already an advantage on exchange there because the Euro has devalued against the pound just like the dollar.
On pricing I have been studying the market for some time but this is based upon advertised pricing. We have been viewing boats for most of this year and this has been the first we have seen with the layout which suited us, a reasonable of kit and that is (at least to our eye) in great condition. Pricing looks at the higher end of the range but a lot of the other similar boats are ex charter and / or very well used. The missing link is the actual achieved price , at present I can only see advertised price . My worry is that if all the other boats are actually selling for 25% less than advertised , should I have pressed harder on price? I guess ultimately I'll never know. Key thing is to get the right boat and to feel comfortable with the purchase - then just enjoy sailing !

[robert sailor]

Ask your broker to give you the selling prices of the boat you are looking at for the last couple of years. If he wont find a broker that will!

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

The point is that it would be nice not to have to go through a broker for that information.

For real estate, the information is usually posted online, as the buyer had to pay taxes on it - the information is public.

I hear ya but that choice is not available at this time so you go with the choices you have.

When you deal with home sales you are dealing with a registry system that is public and therefore the info is available.

[Kenomac]

Every boat transaction is different. To believe and expect a 25% reduction in price is simply ridiculous. If the boat is priced right compared to the competition, and has several interested buyers considering it, you most likely won't see any price reduction. If in poor shape and priced sky high, maybe a 50% reduction is in order. There's no magic formula. Just do your homework, throw an offer at the seller and see what happens.

[Scout 30]

I don't think that this 75% list price/sale price ratio is realistic. If market value declines list price declines. If you actually want to sell your boat in a reasonable amount of time and are willing to accept $30,000 it would be counterproductive to list it for $40,000. It's your Broker's job to get you to be realistic so that the boat will be competitively priced. You want your list price to be competitive so more potential buyers will look at it. If a boat does not sell within a typical marketing time it is priced to high. In that case a good broker will recognize this & advise the seller to lower the list price. If the seller will not lower the list price the seller is not realistic. An unrealistic seller will not accept a low offer. It is the buyer's or the buyer's broker's responsibility to know the market value of whatever they are buying and any offer should be based on that. Not on a generalization of a list price/sale price ratio.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

I don't think that this 75% list price/sale price ratio is realistic. If market value declines list price declines. If you actually want to sell your boat in a reasonable amount of time and are willing to accept $30,000 it would be counterproductive to list it for $40,000. It's your Broker's job to get you to be realistic so that the boat will be competitively priced. You want your list price to be competitive so more potential buyers will look at it. If a boat does not sell within a typical marketing time it is priced to high. In that case a good broker will recognize this & advise the seller to lower the list price. If the seller will not lower the list price the seller is not realistic. An unrealistic seller will not accept a low offer. It is the buyer's or the buyer's broker's responsibility to know the market value of whatever they are buying and any offer should be based on that. Not on a generalization of a list price/sale price ratio.

If only the market worked like that. The broker near me overprices boats, but he sells a lot -- I believe by discounting them. It may be a way to eliminate "tire kickers".

[BillyBobtx]

From what I can tell, boats sales are seasonal, so if your boat does not sell in a year it could be priced too high. "They" say it is a buyer's market- but only if you have a list of five or six boats you would settle for. Like the original poster, I am specific on the boat that I want and realize patience is on my side.

To the OP, one of the first questions I ask is how long has the boat been on the market and (more importantly) has someone paid to have a survey done?

Best of luck with your purchase.

[robert sailor]

One other thing I harp on a bit is that it is hard to find a real nice used boat that is in excellent condition and maintained well. If you do find one, which is quite hard and the price is reasonable, the boat has a good reputation and following and it is a model you like then buy it because chances are while you are thinking about it someone else will pull the trigger. Even in this buyers market it is hard to find a really cherry boat out there.